The invention relates to a valve assembly comprising a valve support and a plurality of electrically actuated valves arranged successively in a line-up direction on the outside of the valve support, wherein a reception passage is formed in the interior of the valve support for the reception of a control circuit board which is provided with at least one control electronics and extends in the line-up direction, and to which the installed valves are electrically contacted for receiving electric actuating signals required for their operation, and which is provided with control interfacing means for the reception of electric control signals responsible for the generation of the actuating signals, and wherein electric supply lines for the power supply of the valves independent of the supply of the control signals are accommodated in the interior of the valve support.
A valve assembly of this type, which is known from EP 1 710 447 B1, comprises a plate-shaped valve support which is segmented in its longitudinal direction and has an external mounting surface on which a plurality of electrically actuated valves is mounted. The valves are lined up in a line-up direction which coincides with the longitudinal direction of the valve support. For the electric actuation of the valves, a multipart control circuit board extends in the interior of the valve support; this is provided with at least one control electronics and is electrically contacted to the valves in order to provide them with control signals which predetermine their operating state and which are generated on the basis of externally fed-in actuating signals. To ensure that the valve assembly operates reliably even at a high power consumption of the individual valves, the control circuit board further comprises electric supply lines for the power supply of the valves independent of the control signals. To cope with a high power demand, the valve assembly is provided with several feed-in points for the power supply, which involves a relatively high degree of constructive effort and, if a great number of valves is involved, results in an undesirable increase of the overall length of the valve assembly.
As far as the applicant is aware without being able to supply any published evidence, there are proposals for solving the problem of the power supply of valve assemblies, according to which the control circuit board and the electric supply lines are placed outside the valve support, the supply lines being represented by rod-shaped copper elements.